I am a prospective college freshman. I am planning to become a registered nurse right after college, but the college I’ll be attending does not offer a BSN degree. I really want to earn a BSN degree and go into nursing asap, but I’m really concerned that my college isn’t offering a BSN degree (I know I should’ve committed to a college that has a school of nursing, but the college I’ll be going to was the only college I was accepted to–I didn’t have a choice). What should I do? Is it possible to get a BSN degree online?
You can complete your 4 year degree at your current college and the apply to a Post Bacc BSN program or you can complete the Nursing pre-req courses at your current college and then apply to a BSN program as a Junior Transfer. Which college will you attend and do they have all the Nursing pre-req courses so you can transfer?
No, you can’t get a BSN online, unless you already have your RN through an associates degree or hospital-based diploma program. You have 4 choices: take a gap year and apply to other schools that do have BSN programs, go to your current school and plan to transfer to another school next year (though many schools don’t accept nursing transfers), take courses at community college and plan to get an associates degree in nursing (or transfer to a BSN program at another school), or complete all the nursing pre-requisites at your current school and apply for ABSN programs after graduation.
Thank you for your kind advice! My college allows its undergrad students to apply to the graduate school of nursing if certain prereqs are met, which means I can get an MSN without a BSN. But I heard that many employers do not hire nurses that has an MSN without a BSN–is this true?
I suggest that you speak with the director or another faculty member of the nursing graduate school about placement of their graduates, in particular those who started the program as non-nurses. My guess is that some hospitals may not want to pay masters-level salaries to nurses with no on-the-job experience.